


dearly beloved

by allhalethekings



Series: Tumblr Fics [13]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Kid!Fic, Light Friends AU, M/M, Pining, Sterek Scene Stealer, Sterek Week 2015, Temp. Stiles x Heather, getting married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 21:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5106344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allhalethekings/pseuds/allhalethekings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was like a painful itch under his skin.</p><p>For the weeks leading up to the wedding, Stiles could never figure out why his gut feeling was hell-bent on screaming against any action he took but he ignored them in favour of believing that it was just cold feet. After all, getting married is a huge step so it makes sense as to why it would be freaking him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	dearly beloved

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sterek Week 2015 | Sterek Scene Stealer prompt.

It was like a painful itch under his skin.

For the weeks leading up to the wedding, Stiles could never figure out why his gut feeling was hell-bent on screaming against any action he took but he ignored them in favour of believing that it was just cold feet. After all, getting married is a huge step so it makes sense as to why it would be freaking him out.

Granted, Heather was completely unaware of all his feelings but she was busy too. It’s not easy planning a wedding and if she’d been a bit distant and hesitant with him, well Stiles was the same with her.

Point is, even as he’s putting on his tux, he can’t help the roiling feeling bundling in his stomach.

“Everything okay?” Scott asks, adjusting his bowtie. Stiles gives him a wary smile.

“Just pre-wedding jitters,” he answers. 

He doesn’t say that unlike most pre-wedding jitters, these have been around for almost a month now. Thinking back, he doesn’t know why he even asked Heather to marry him. It’s not like they were in love but after one drunken night together, they had a baby to worry about and they both wanted to try being a family.

Stiles wants to do right by Heather and his little girl. So after a long talk with Scott and his dad, he’d proposed to Heather at the hospital right after she’d given birth to Elyse. Part of him always thought that Heather would say no because she had that free spirit in her but she’d taken one look at his earnest eyes, one at their baby, and nodded.

That was almost six months ago. And although they had tried to give it a fair shot, he couldn’t figure out why every part of his body was screaming against the decision. Maybe it had something to do with Derek’s gut-punched expression when Stiles and Heather announced their engagement. Maybe it had something to do with how Derek had clapped Stiles on the shoulder, hugged Heather, and walked out of his own apartment. Maybe it had something to do with how Derek avoided Stiles like the plague for almost two months after the announcement. Maybe it had something to do with Derek refusing to come to Stiles’s wedding.

Thing is, Stiles doesn’t know what to do about that. He and Derek had come close to getting together more than he could count on his hands. It was like a strange cat-and-mouse game they played since the day they met in college to six months ago, a brutal seven years in the running. When they first met, they hated each other and had taken to resolving that tension with a  _lot_  of sex.

But then, it got weird and awkward and Stiles left grad school in another state to get away because feelings got involved. After that, they reunited in Beacon Hills when Stiles came back with a grad degree in hand and it was like nothing had happened. They hung out day after day with their friends but never once mentioned their prior relationship. Days passed into months and then into years and Stiles and Derek just became a constant in each other’s lives.

They dated and had relationships but none of them worked. Regardless of that, at no point did either of them corner the other and ask if they should give it one more shot. Oh, how Stiles wanted to though. He’d picture it sometimes; grabbing Derek by the lapels of his leather jacket, slamming him against the wall, pulling their bodies flush together, and just going for it. But he never followed through. Not because Stiles was scared or because he and Derek had regressed to a state of hatred for each other again, but because Stiles had no idea what would happen next.

Would they settle down in Beacon Hills, Stiles working at Argent Tech as a data scientist and Derek working on his independent consulting business? Would they live together, get a dog, get married, have a runt of cute babies with kaleidoscope eyes and thick, judge-y eyebrows? Would they grow old together, wrapped up in each other’s arms all the time, constantly embarrassing their teenaged kids by acting like teenagers themselves?

Would they…would they…would they…

Stiles never got the answer to that because two weeks later, Derek got involved with some girl named Braeden and in return, he went to the nearest bar, ran into his old friend Heather, bought her a few shots, and went home with her. Three months later, he got the ‘Congrats on almost becoming a dad’ phone call.

The rest was history.

 

 

In the present, Scott sighs, bringing Stiles’s attention back to him. He looks at Stiles with big, wide-set eyes. “Look, I know you’re trying to do right by Elyse but are you _sure_  you want to do this?”

Stiles pauses, opening and closing his mouth. No. The answer to that is no. Especially not when Derek isn’t here. It doesn’t feel right to get married without Derek there. Before he can say anything though, the door to their hotel suite opens behind them. They both turn to see who it is and while Scott makes a pleased sound, Stiles’s voice gets caught in his throat because…it’s Derek. Derek’s here, he  _showed_.

“Hey,” Derek says quietly, fidgeting with the sleeves of his white shirt.

“Hey,” Stiles answers with a cracked voice after a long pause. Scott coughs, drawing their attention to him. He looks at Stiles with raised eyebrows, shifting on the balls of his feet.

“I’ll leave you guys to talk for a bit,” Scott says softly. He claps Stiles on his shoulder on his way out, adding quietly, “ Make the right choice, yeah?”

It’s deathly quiet after Scott shuts the door behind him, almost seems like he took all the air out of the room with him. Derek walks deeper into the room, closer to Stiles and it takes everything for Stiles to not take five steps back for every one step Derek takes.

“Thought you weren’t coming,” Stiles says, because someone has to say something.

Derek gives a feeble shrug. “How could I not?”

Stiles nods, looking away. “Um—“

“I’m sorry,” Derek interrupts, stalking even closer. His eyes are shining with determination, eyebrows scrunched in concentration, cute bunny teeth biting at his lower lip. “I’m sorry, I should have been more supportive about Heather—“

“It’s—“

Derek shakes his head vigorously, holding up a hand. He looks desperate, like he’s been coaching himself to say this for weeks now and if doesn’t do it now, he won’t ever. So Stiles shuts up and lets Derek do the one thing he rarely does - talk.

“No, it’s not okay. It was really selfish of me and I shouldn’t have just left things like that,” Derek mutters. “I - I guess I was just hurting after Braeden and I broke up and seeing you announce your engagement with Heather just made me really upset. But still, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you when I was dealing with personal. I wasn’t fair to you or Heather.”

“Derek, it’s okay,” Stiles says. He wants to reach out to touch Derek but he forces himself not to, instead settles for balling his hand into a fist at his side. Derek gives a stiff nod, lips pursed together, looking very much like a soldier going into war.

“So, everything okay?” Derek asks, motioning to the rest of the room where clothes were left in disarray and various scraps of paper strewn all over the bed.

“Yeah,” Stiles coughs, jerking into movement. He gathers up all the papers with shaky hands and laughs awkwardly, holding them up. “Just my vows.”

Derek raises a brow. “That many? You know simple is the best way to go, right? Or is this like the time you wrote about male circumcision for your Econ class, because I gotta say, that won’t really go over well with this crowd.”

Stiles snorts. “Oh, look who disappeared to South America and grew a funny bone.”

Derek shrugs, allowing a small smile to grace his beautiful face. “Well, I tried to find another you but then I realized it’d just be easier on my sanity to grow a sense of humour.”

“Um, excuse me, there can never be another Stiles, okay?” Stiles snarks, affronted. Derek gives him a fond expression, looking at him with something Stiles can’t recognize.

“No,” Derek says after a while. “There can’t be another Stiles.”

Stiles’s heart begins to thud harder and harder in his chest and he opens his mouth to say something,  _anything_ , but Derek shakes his head, looking away. The smile stays plastered on his face and when he looks back at Stiles, it’s with a sense of finalization that Stiles can’t ignore so once again, he chooses not to say anything.

“You’re going to be an amazing husband,” Derek says quietly. “I know you’re nervous but you’re already an amazing dad to Elyse and that’s already half the win. My mom always told me it’s not easy taking a huge step like this. She and my dad always used to laugh and tease each other about how she almost called off their wedding because she kept thinking she wasn’t ready. But they got married and it was the next day when she woke up in his arms, she felt complete in a way she never thought she’d feel.

“I guess what I’m trying to say,” Derek takes a shuddering breath. “Is that if you’re nervous about it now, that’s okay and it’s normal. Not everyone has to walk to the altar with this grand sense of confidence. Sometimes we can doubt our decisions and our actions but it’s how we choose to eliminate that doubt that matters the most. And personally, I have no doubt that you’re going to make Heather happier than she could ever be without you.”

For the second time in the span of thirty minutes, Stiles feels like all the air is sucked out of his lungs and he looks at Derek with wide eyes, like he has no idea what to say. His eyes are on the brink of tearing up and he knows that if he keeps staring at Derek, he’ll be in tears in all of five seconds so he swirls around instead. Stiles rubs away at his eyes and takes a deep, albeit shaky, breath. He counts to ten, lifting a finger up every time he counts a number, pairing it with an inhale and exhale until his breathing settles down.

When he turns around, the door is open and Derek’s long gone.

 

 

An hour later, everyone is getting settled into their seats. Small murmurs of conversation and gentle melodies of the harp fill his ears as he shifts back and forth at the altar, butterflies still flying every which way in his stomach. From the front row, his dad looks at him with pride, Melissa’s face mirroring the expression from beside him as she holds a giggling Elyse, so Stiles gives them a small smile, winking at Elyse, sending her into another fit of giggles. Stiles would have loved to see her as the flower girl but seeing as how she was only eight months old, they’d decided to let her be.

He avoids looking at Derek, seated between Lydia and Erica.

“Still doing okay?” Scott asks from behind him, leaning forward just enough to whisper in his ear. Stiles doesn’t answer but gives a small nod, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

Soon, the music fades away, quietening for thirty seconds before the gentle melody of  _Here Comes the Bride_  fills the room and all at once, all conversations cease. Stiles takes a deep breath, turning to look towards the back of the aisle where Heather and her dad appear.

“Dearly beloved,” the priest, Father Charles, starts, as soon as Heather reaches the altar and stands before him. She looks absolutely breathtaking and regal in her soft, blush pink wedding gown, her skin almost glowing against the colour. Heather gives him a small, wry smile that Stiles returns and they both turn to face Father Charles. “We have gathered here today to celebrate these two beautiful souls taking their next step in their lives.”

Stiles listens intently, as the priest talks of the importance of the vows they’re about to recite, but he can’t help but want to turn around to look at Derek. He doesn’t though, because that would be highly inappropriate, but as he stands up there, his mind takes charge, replaying all the memories of them together.

The first time Scott had introduced the two of them. The first time they glared at each other, almost snarling in contempt. The first time they’d been left to their own devices by their friends. The first time they’d come so close to an out-right fist fight over some comment Stiles had made that had slowly escalated. The first time Derek had slammed Stiles into the nearest wall, fury lining his eyes, nostrils flared, how Stiles had refused to close his eyes like a goddamn coward as he waited for the incoming assault, and how instead of connecting his fist with Stiles’s face, Derek had sealed their lips together.

Father Charles coughs, looking at Stiles expectantly. Stiles flushes, stammers out an apology that Heather and the priest dismiss with a smile. Father Charles turns to Heather.

“Repeat after me. I, Heather, take thee Stiles,” he starts, pausing to let Heather repeat after him. “As my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.”

After Heather repeats everything back dutifully, Father Charles turns to Stiles.

“Repeat after me. I, Stiles, take thee Heather,” he starts once again. Stiles’s heart rabbits in his chest and he swallows painfully.

“I, Stiles,” he murmurs. “Take thee Derek…” Heather’s eyes fly open, her head rearing back, just as an audible gasp echoes from the wedding guests.

At first, Stiles has no idea what happened but when he replays what he’s just said, his own eyes widen and he whips his head to where Derek’s sitting so fast he almost gets whiplash. Derek stares at him, equally shocked, looking like he’s caught between staying put and getting up. He stays put in his seat, if only because of the seemingly painful grip Erica has on his arm.

“Oh, thank God,” he hears Heather whisper from in front of him, drawing his attention to her. When he looks at her, he finally notices that Heather is not a picture of a betrayed, forsaken bride. Instead, she looks almost relieved.

“What?” Stiles stammers, ignoring the hushed whispers that fill the church. Father Charles looks between the two of them, wisely choosing not to say a word.

Heather gives him a painfully honest smile, perhaps the first genuine smile he’s seen on her face for the past month.

“Stiles, you don’t love me,” she starts, point blank. “You proposed and I said yes because I knew you were trying to do the right thing but the more time I spent with you and Derek, the more I got the feeling that there was a lot of history between the two of you, history that you were tying to ignore for some reason. I never said anything because it was only a suspicion.”

“Heather—,” Stiles starts, stepping forward, reaching out for her. Instead of moving away from him, Heather mirrors his actions, moving forward until she rests a hand on his cheek.

“Stiles, you’re a great dad and I have no doubt in my mind that you would have spent the rest of your life trying to make me happy. But I can’t stand to get in the way of someone you  _actually_  love.”

“I do love you,” Stiles whispers, leaning into her hand.

“Yes, you do,” Heather agrees, nodding. “And I love you. But neither of us love each other the way you and Derek love each other.”

Stiles looks at her and as much as wants to deny it, he knows deep down that she’s right. Stiles loves Heather because she’s the mother of his daughter. It’s the type of love you have for a companion, for someone who you’ve decided to walk a long journey with because you enjoy their company, not because you can’t even picture yourself taking the first steps if they weren’t with you.

That’s—that’s Derek.

So he nods, pulling her in for a tight hug, which she returns just as fiercely before parting. Heather squeezes his hand and turns to face the wedding guests, her eyes skimming the crowd. She smiles brightly when she finally places Derek in the crowd and moves to where he’s sitting.

Again, the guests quieten almost immediately, all leaning forward in their seats to see what she’s about to do. Stiles can see various guests place bets on whether she’s going to yell at Derek for ruining her perfect day or if she’s going to slap him or—

He inhales sharply when he sees Heather extend her hand out to Derek from the aisle, a warm smile on her face. Derek stares at her, frozen in his seat before Lydia elbows him in the side, spurring him into action. Slowly, he reaches out, grasping Heather’s hand, letting her pull him out of his seat and leading him up to the altar.

She pulls him behind her until he’s standing in front of Stiles. Stiles mouths a very grateful  _thank you_  to her when she passes him, winking at him, as she goes to sit down at Derek’s place beside Lydia. Stiles turns around to Derek, who looks at him with a king of liveliness in his eyes that Stiles hadn’t seen for months and at once, he feels at ease.

Behind him, Scott whispers, “Fucking finally.”

Stiles can’t help it; he laughs until tears come out of his eyes. Derek smiles beatifically, reaches out, grabbing both his hands, and pulls him forward. He leans his forehead against Stiles.

“Still want to get married?” Derek asks quietly, their breaths intermingling.

“Just try to talk me out of it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up at: [tumblr](http://hales-republic.tumblr.com) // [twitter](http://twitter.com/halesrepublic). 
> 
> Send me prompts, flail with me over Hoechlin's eyes, let's be friends - the whole shebang.


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